The Fourth Largest City In Collin County
The Caddo and Comaneci people lived in the region before European immigrants arrived in Allen in the 1840s. The original village of Allen was located along the Houston and Texas Central Railway. The city was named after Ebenezer Allen, former
Attorney General of Texas, and one of the railway advocates. From 1908 through 1948, Allen was a stop along the Texas Traction Company’s interurban line from Denison to Dallas
The devastating fire destroyed most of the business area between the Interurban and the railroad in 1915. Interurban closed in 1948 and the population of Allen declined to 400 in 1950. Allen was officially registered in 1953 and continued to grow for decades.